FEUD: Some would cut funding to for-profit schools that are rated differently than public schools. WHY: Their credits don't always transfer and more graduates default on government-backed loans.

As colleges are vying for their piece of the shrinking government funding pie, there are people who think some schools shouldn't be grabbing a slice.

The long-time feud is over accreditation, the process to determine if a school meets the standards to offer degrees, and many for-profit schools are being attacked for not going through the exact same process as public schools.

For-profit schools in Jacksonville, such as Jones College and Everest University, have been specifically targeted by critics for "focusing on maximizing profits and not on education," said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of external relations for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

Studies also show that credits don't always transfer from these schools and a greater number of their graduates default on their government-backed student loans.

Defenders, like Jones College President Frank McCafferty, say there's no difference: "I'll put my students up against any other students at any school in Jacksonville."

What's at stake is more than $4 billion in state higher-education money. Gov. Charlie Crist recently asked for 10 percent cuts across the board for the next budget, which means the fight will get more heated.

Kathy Mizereck, executive director of the Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges, an organization that represents career colleges, cites budget cuts for what she called unfair attacks on for-profit schools: "People are trying to discredit their opponents for a funding advantage."

Battle over standards

Colleges are voluntarily accredited through nongovernmental agencies. Generally, the federal government won't give financial aid to students at unaccredited institutions.

There are regional and national accrediting agencies, but only the latter are criticized as disreputable.

Primarilyvocational schools, Jones College and Everest University are accredited through The Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools, a national body.

In Florida, the regional organization is the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which accredits Edward Waters College, Jacksonville University and all of Florida's publicly funded universities and community colleges.

For-profit colleges say there's little difference between the two because both are reviewed by the U.S. Department of Education. Others, like Nassirian, say the standards are like night and day.

"I have no doubt that some of these schools are excellent," he said, "but generally it is our view that nationally accredited institutions offer weaker [curricula] and are more interested in getting warm bodies in and out."

SACS accreditation has some requirements that ACICS doesn't have: At SACS schools, 25 percent of the professors in every major need to have terminal degrees, usually a doctorate. That isn't required at ACICS schools.

Florida Community College at Jacksonville and most Florida public institutions won't hire instructors if they don't have a SACS-accredited degree.

Answering critics, Tom Wickenden, director of policy and accreditation systems at ACICS, was to the point: "That's their opinions."

Different paths

McCafferty said leaders at Jones College sought national accreditation decades ago - for reasons he did not know - and decided to keep it that way.

Located in Arlington and on the Westside, Jones College has about 700 students. McCafferty said it could meet SACS standards if it applied for accreditation. He did not know why it hasn't.

The U.S. Department of Education could not provide a breakdown on how much money goes to nationally accredited institutions. Nearly all of their students are eligible for student aid and loans. And they are eligible for property tax exemptions if they own their property.

"I think the problem really is the amount of money we have to distribute," said Republican state Sen. Jim King of Jacksonville.

"We need to make sure that the dollars we are putting in will have a positive impact on students," he said.

King said he would like to move funding away from these schools, which he called "bottom-feeders," but his fellow legislators, flush with lobbyist money from for-profit education corporations, keep voting to fund them.

Transfer of credits

Susan Lehr, vice president for external relations at FCCJ, said some students apply to nationally accredited schools because they don't want to take remedial courses at the college, which about 65 percent of all students must take.

She said they are later shocked to find out some credits won't transfer to FCCJ.

Although Jones College uses Florida's Common Course Numbering System, which facilitates transfer of credits, a 2007 report by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, a Florida agency, shows the system hasn't been effective.

Only 16 percent of the courses in the study of Florida for-profit schools, mostly nationally accredited, were eligible for transfer to community colleges. And of that 16 percent, community colleges accepted only 29 percent of the eligible courses.

Students from for-profit schools are also twice as likely to default on student loans as their nonprofit peers, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Education.

Nassirian believes these students are paying too much - often around $15,000 a year for full-time students - for credits that won't transfer to community colleges. He calls them "victims."

Mizereck disagrees.

"For many students, these schools are a better fit," she said. "I just don't see how one is better or worse."